WTC Final 2025: South Africa wins first ICC trophy in 27 years, ends title jinx
South Africa claimed its first International Cricket Council (ICC) trophy in 27 years after beating Australia by five wickets in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's on Saturday.
The Proteas' last piece of ICC silverware was the 1998 KnockOut Trophy, later renamed as the ICC Champions Trophy. Since that title triumph, South Africa endured a heartbreaking run of close finishes in ICC tournaments, exiting in the semifinals on 11 occasions while losing one final—the T20 World Cup 2024 summit clash against India.
The WTC final win comes as redeeming touch for a country where the oldest format of the game is struggling to survive. The Proteas were forced to send an understrength team to New Zealand for a two-match series in February last year as their frontline Test players had to fulfil their contractual obligations to SA20—the country's marquee T20 franchise league.
South Africa bounced back from that setback by winning eight of the next nine Tests it played, with the unbeaten streak eventually culminating in an elusive ICC title win.
At the helm of South Africa's turnaround is skipper Temba Bavuma, who is yet to lose a Test as captain after 10 matches.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
8 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
India vs Pakistan Women's ODI World Cup clash set for October 5 in Colombo: Report
The second ICC tournament of the ongoing 2025—Women's ODI World Cup—is set to begin on September 30, with home team India ready to take on Sri Lanka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. This will be followed by the blockbuster clash between the two rivals—India and Pakistan—on October 5, although the game will be played at the neutral venue of R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, according to a report in ESPNCricinfo. The report stated that Pakistan will play all their matches in Colombo. This is because of the pre-decided agreement on the hybrid model between the BCCI and the PCB in the wake of the controversy during the Champions Trophy earlier this year. The Indian government did not allow the Rohit Sharma-led side to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, which was played in February-March. After months of back-and-forth, with ICC's backing, Pakistan agreed to host all India's matches in Dubai. However, in considering it, PCB proposed that the Pakistan team also not travel to India for the upcoming ICC events. The Women's World Cup tournament will feature 28 matches and three knockout games, played across Bengaluru, Indore, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, and Colombo. The first semifinal will be played on October 29 in either Guwahati or Colombo, depending on Pakistan's progression, while the second knockout game will be staged in Bengaluru on the following day. The final will be played on November 2 in either Bengaluru or Colombo. The last 50-over women's showpiece was staged in India back in 2013. According to the report, defending champions Australia will begin their campaign in Indore on October 1 against New Zealand, followed by a trip to Colombo for the match against Pakistan on October 8. Their face-off against England—a repeat of last edition's final—will be on October 22 in Indore.
Mint
28 minutes ago
- Mint
England will hold the edge but India will push hard, feel former cricketers
New Delhi, Jun 16 (PTI) Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden believes India will have a strong chance of winning the upcoming Test series against England if they can clinch the games in Leeds and Manchester, but South African pace great Dale Steyn has backed the hosts to triumph 3-2 in the five-match contest. India and England kick off their new World Test Championship cycle with the five-match series, starting with the first game in Leeds on Friday. Manchester will host the fourth Test from July 23. "I don't think England bowlers are that good, they have got a number of injuries and a number of retirees as well, that will be the challenge," Hayden said on 'JioHotstar'. "The northern Test matches when it's zipping around that will be key, win that one and it could well be a series that goes India's way," he added. Since India's last red ball tour of England, the hosts' two most experienced bowlers -- James Anderson and Stuart Broad -- have bid adieu to international cricket. Additionally, England's bowling arsenal is also considerably depleted, with speedster Mark Wood ruled out of at least the first three Tests due to injury. Fellow quick Jofra Archer will also miss the opening game, and Gus Atkinson is continuing to recover from a hamstring strain. India, meanwhile, will take the field under new captain Shubman Gill, ushering in a fresh era following the retirements of stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and R Ashwin. With a youthful batting line-up and limited red-ball exposure in recent months, the visitors will face a stern challenge. Steyn didn't write India off but backed England to claim the trophy. "It is a pretty young team. Probably going to say that England are going to win the series but it's not going to come without a fight. I feel like there are going to be one or two Tests that India will take themselves." "All games will be close. But every game will have a result. I think it will be 3-2 in favour of England. But even that will be incredibly difficult." Former India cricketers Deep Dasgupta and Sanjay Manjrekar also backed England to clinch the rechristened Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, but agreed the series would be a closely fought affair. "It is a young team , it has a young captain. The team is going through a transition so that will give England a slight advantage and they have the home advantage as well but it (the series) will be very close. I'd say 3-2 in favour of England," Dasgupta said. Manjrekar echoed the sentiment: "I think England have an edge. They are playing at home and the Indian team is going through a transitional phase so I think England might just pull this off."
Mint
29 minutes ago
- Mint
Temba Bavuma breaks century-old record to become most successful Test captain after 10 games; here's a complete list
The World Test Championship (WTC) triumph not only took South African cricket to a different level but also their captain Temba Bavuma to the peak of an elite list which has the likes of Ricky Ponting, Percy Chapman and Warwick Armstrong to name a few. Chasing 282 runs for a win in the fourth innings, South Africa rode on Bavuma's 66 and Aiden Markram's 136 to steer his team to a historic five-wicket win at Lord's. In fact, it was South Africa's only second ICC silverware after the ICC KnockOut Trophy (now Champions Trophy) victory back in 1998. In the process, Bavuma did what no other captain in this century has done. The WTC 2025 final win was Bavuma's ninth win in 10 Tests as a South African captain. One game ended in a draw, thus officially becoming the most successful Test captain in their first 10 matches. Former England captain Percy Chapman do have won nine Tests in his first 10 games in 1926, but a solitary loss placed him second in the list behind Bavuma. Captains Tenure Win Loss Draw Temba Bavuma (SA) 2023-25 9 0 1 Percy Chapman (ENG) 1926-30 9 1 0 Warwick Armstrong (AUS) 1920-21 8 0 2 Johnny Douglas (ENG) 1911-14 8 1 1 Lindsay Hassett (AUS) 1949-51 8 1 1 Ricky Ponting (AUS) 2004-05 8 1 1
